MIRROR
The 84th-minute winner sends Belgium through and Sweden home
Belgium booked a knockout date with Hungary as Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended his Sweden career with a group-stage exit.
A narrow 1-0 win suited the Belgians, but it barely told the story of an end-to-end clash packed with chances and was only settled by Radja Nainggolan's late stunner from 25 yards.
Sweden knew only a win would do if they were to progress and approached the game with more purpose and spark than they have any other in this tournament..
But Belgium had too much quality, and despite a raft of missed chances, Nainggolan's long-ranger settled an entertaining game.
Here are 5 things we learned....
1. Belgium's lack of control allows a blistering start to a needlessly open game
Within five minutes both sides had missed great chances to score.
First Belgium profited from a defensive slip to set Eden Hazard free, and he set up Axel Witsel to narrowly drive over the bar.
Then Sweden should have scored when a free-kick fell to Marcus Berg in the centre of goal and just five yards out, only for him to shoot straight at a stranded Thibaut Courtois.
Then Belgium broke again, Romelu Lukaku seeing his shot deflected just wide and from the resulting corner an onrushing Jan Vertonghen ran past a chance to tap into an empty net.
That was all in the first five minutes, and it set the tone.
The Swedes obviously had to win and Belgium, packed with runners and speed, had the perfect team to pick them off on the counter-attack.
However, they still lacked the coherence that has only ever been evident in fits and starts during Marc Wilmots generously-extended tenure and Romelu Lukaku failed to get on the end of a number of well-created chances in the first half before fluffing the ones he was handed after the break.
But as time ticked on, Belgium made little effort to lock down the draw, slow down the game or take control.
Against a profligate and fairly average Sweden side they weren't punished but against stronger opposition this lack of game management will see them eliminated.
2. Romelu Lukaku has a lot of 'off days' for a £60m-rated striker
An unstoppable physical force since the age of 16, Lukaku can point to his career goalscoring numbers at 23 and they are up there with Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.
But he has rarely appeared to have the same quality as those whose statistics his appear side-by-side with.
Today was another one of those off days for Lukaku, where he was not quick enough of mind or foot to get to some brilliantly-crafted chances.
Then when he finally did, racing through one-on-one with Andreas Isaksson, he hit it at the veteran keeper.
Eventually he breached the Swedes, but was flagged offside in a performance that posed more questions over a player who will be one of the summer's biggest buys.
3. Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne cotinue to confound
You get the impression that Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard are sick of being asked about it.
Hazard politely acknowledged earlier in the tournament that it was “the big debate” around the national team, but could provide no answers.
More worryingly, neither can Marc Wilmots.
How can it be that two players of such quality struggle so much to click?
Why, in 37 internationals together, has De Bruyne only set up Hazard for two goals and, more pressingly, why has it never happened even once in reverse?
The Manchester City man is evidently sick of hearing about it.
“Are people going to talk about what position I play for the national team until the end of my career?” he asked on Sunday.
“I play where the coach tells me, for the good of the team. It’s not a question of freedom but of spaces. There weren’t any against Italy’s five defenders but more against Ireland.”
The latest tactic to create more of those spaces from an increasingly desperate Wilmots has been to throw Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco into the mix and bring De Bruyne into a more central position - and that was once again the play tonight.
But it didn't cure anything.
Perhaps we wouldn't be saying that had Lukaku finished some chances.
Yet while De Bruyne was brilliant, there was no evidence of a better understanding or chemistry between the two.
Eden Hazard, inexplicably, was voted Man of the Match by Uefa.
4. Nainggolan seals a barely-deserved win
Radja Nainggolan's late rocket was probably going in even if it hadn't deflected of Erkan Zengin, and it won't take any gloss off things for the midfielder.
But Belgium have had even more fortune than just that.
Without ever really playing well they have won two of three games and now have a soft-ish draw in the knockout stage.
With Wilmots in charge, it's hard to be positive about their chances.
5. Zlatan departs the international stage
The legion of yellow-clad Swedish fans en route to the Allianz Riviera were acutely aware of what they might be about to witness.
Anything less than a win and this would be Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s final game in the shirt of his national team. Sweden’s greatest-ever footballer, and certainly their most glamorous, calling full-time on his international career in the fittingly chic surroundings of Nice.
After a career full of domestic titles but crucially lacking the Champions League trophy, Zlatan will eventually retire with the reputation as someone who would, like Cristiano Ronaldo, mow weaker opposition with alarming regularity and propel his sides to league championships. In the crunch knockout games and in the shirt of Sweden, however, he has come up short where he would dearly have been decisive.
Zlatan needed to win this game not for Sweden, but for Zlatan.
And that's how he played. He had chances, seeing a header cleared off the line, a free-kick chance being beaten away by Courtois and a dipping shot ending up just wide.
He even had it in the net, only for Marcus Berg to be whistled for a high foot in the build-up.
It was a disappointing end to his career with Sweden.
But, as the Belgian fans sung at the end, it was "au revoir Ibrahimovic."
Match Stats — Team Stats
SWEDENV.BELGIUM
Sweden
- 1A. Isaksson
- 3E. Johansson
- 5M. Olsson
- 14V. Lindelöf
- 4A. Granqvist
- 6E. Forsberg
- 9K. Källström
- 7S. Larsson
- 8A. Ekdal
- 10Z. Ibrahimovic
- 11M. Berg
Substitutes
- 20J. Guidetti
- 13P. Jansson
- 22E. Zengin
- 19E. Kujovic
- 2Mikael Lustig
- 21J. Durmaz
- 18O. Lewicki
- 15O. Hiljemark
- 23P. Carlgren
- 17L. Augustinsson
- 12R. Olsen
- 16P. Wernbloom
- Coach
- Erik Hamrén
Belgium
- 1T. Courtois
- 2T. Alderweireld
- 16T. Meunier
- 3T. Vermaelen
- 5J. Vertonghen
- 10E. Hazard
- 11Y. Carrasco
- 4R. Nainggolan
- 7K. De Bruyne
- 6A. Witsel
- 9R. Lukaku
Substitutes
- 12S. Mignolet
- 20C. Benteke
- 17D. Origi
- 13J. Gillet
- 14D. Mertens
- 23L. Ciman
- 8M. Fellaini
- 22M. Batshuayi
- 21J. Lukaku
- 15J. Denayer
- 19M. Dembélé
- 18C. Kabasele
- Coach
- Marc Wilmots
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